I needed a quick fix and wanted mindless knitting. I saw a sample of this little sweater at my LYS (Iris Fine Yarns) and was intrigued by both the simplicity and the construction.

I really didn't have any specific yarn in mind when I bought the pattern, but the stash is quite plentiful in the fingering-weight department so I wasn't worried. When I spotted my Color Affection leftovers, I knew it would be perfect for a sophisticated, nontraditional baby cardi!

Knitting from the bottom up, I worked one garter ridge in black and then switched to red, using up all but a couple of yards. I reserved only enough to crochet a few button loops or the like if necessary. (Now it'll get completely used up in a hexi-not-puff).

The pattern gives the option and direction for either a center or an off-center opening, and for closure with buttons or bows, etc. The choice was definitely off-center for me, but the manner of closure wasn't clear until the very end.

I have had a little Fibonacci-on-the-brain lately, even thinking about knitting a new one for myself to correct some of the mistakes I made with the first. I love my Fib, but it's a bit too wide and a bit too short and the buttonholes are weirdly placed. I decided to get my fix by doing a little Fibonacci-inspired sequencing (1-2-3) to stripe the gray and black yarns on the top part of the sweater.

I'd overlooked the very first instruction to slip the first stitch of every row and, combined with the color changes, the edge ended up looking pretty messy. The off-center opening drawing attention to that area even without buttons or bows, which would only draw more focus, I really had to come up with an idea to clean that up.

After finding the perfect buttons at Iris -- twice, I might add, because I bought them once and then lost them (somewhere in my house or a project bag) so had to buy them again -- I decided to pick up and knit a buttonband that would also make a lovely clean edge!

It's not perfect, but I am quite happy with how it turned out. I will definitely knit this pattern again!

Comments

It's a perfect baby sweater gift as it says loudly and clearly it's from Vicki! The colors are radical and fabulous and your fix to clean up the edges made a lovely design effect, which ties the colors together to make the project a whole and the buttons kick up the Asian styling.

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